Orient Railways question

I do not know that there is any special reason for discussing in these pages the rights or wrongs of the Orient Railways question, though it is naturally one which excites very great local interest. It is enough to say that these railways, which are supposed to be the origin of Baron Hirsch’s colossal fortune, though they do supply the great want of a direct route between the Bosphorus and the Danube, supply it in a way which has given very general dissatisfaction to the districts traversed.

They are said, whether justly or not, to have been very badly constructed, to have cost a great deal more than was necessary, and to have followed a studiously circuitous track so as to lengthen the distances traversed and increase the cost of freight and transport No doubt, the political and financial embarrassments of Turkey rendered the construction of the lines in question far more costly than it need have been ; it is obvious, too, that if the work had to be begun de novo, a more direct and shorter route would be adopted. But more than this it would be difficult to affirm with any degree of certainty. What can be asserted with more confidence is, that the joint system, under which the line is worked at present, is eminently unsatisfactory to Bulgaria.

Tirnovo Jamboli branch

The part of the line constructed by Baron Hirsch was sold, after various vicissitudes, to a company called the Orient Railways Company, which I believe is nominally a Swiss company, having its head office at Zurich, but the capital of which was mainly subscribed by Viennese capitalists. The Orient Railways Company works the line between Constantinople and Sarembey, the distance between the latter place and the Turkish frontier at Mustapha Pasha being close on 130 miles. This company also works the Tirnovo-Jamboli branch, a distance of nearly sixty-six miles, running throughout over Bulgarian territory, and connecting at Jamboli with a line to the port of Bourgas, which was constructed by Bulgaria at her own expense.